Construction forces closure of State Street in Tosa

Juan Lara, Bill Vlieger, Jose Hernandez and Chris Fockler work on pouring concrete as part of the village improvement project. The
work will cause State Street to be shut down for three to four weeks.(Photo: Chris Barlow/Now Media Group)Buy Photo

State Street in the Wauwatosa village is being shut down between Wauwatosa Avenue and the Harmonee Bridge intersection to allow the pouring of concrete and the laying of bricks for the roadway. The closure is necessary to facilitate the on-time completion of the ongoing project and for the safety of the workers.

"We are trying to maintain a safe site," said David Jaeckels, project manager for the city of Wauwatosa. "We want to maximize efficiency to allow us to get the paving and bricklaying done and have fewer interruptions."

The closure took effect Tuesday, Oct. 11 and is expected to last three to four weeks.

As a sign of the progression of the project and its impending completion, the nearby Harmonee bridge will have all lanes open as of Oct. 13. These additional lanes will assist in the traffic flows around the State Street closure. The next phase of the project should see the opening of Underwood and Harwood avenues near the beginning of November. This will create a one-way loop that will allow better access for people who are interested in patronizing the area businesses.

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Jason Stoff inspects the freshly poured concrete done by Zignego Company, the primary contractor on the Wauwatosa Village improvement project. This phase of the project requires the closure of State Street to allow the concrete to cure and bricklayers to complete their work.(Photo: Chris Barlow/Now Media Group)

"The business owners are anxious for us to get this done and to get the side streets opened up as soon as possible," Jaeckels said."We are looking at getting the road open and having sidewalks and making it much more passable by the first or second week of November."

According to Jaeckels, the project is on schedule and should see completion before the Thanksgiving holiday. The schedule is subject to change at all stages of the process due to changing weather conditions.

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